DirecTV Now Exceeding Expectations: AT&T CEO

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Customers signing up for DirecTV Now has "exceeded expectations," according to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson.

Speaking at the annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference Tuesday, Stephenson said that on its first day last Wednesday (Nov. 30), the number of customers exceeded early projections for the month.

He said the product was over-indexing in apartment buildings, a market DirecTV had been targeting.

RELATED: DirecTV Now to Launch on November 30

"This demonstrated the demand for long-form premium content," Stephenson said.

Acquiring access to long-form content was a driver for acquiring DirecTV, he said. The proposed acquisition of Time Warner would be a completion of that strategy, he added.

At $35 a month for 100 channels, analysts see little profit in DirecTV Now.

RELATED: DirecTV Now’s ‘Customer Lifetime Value’ Not Favorable: Analyst

Read more at B&C.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.